Mangialonga Levanto & Lemon Festival Monterosso, Redux

As anyone in Italy over the past months knows, the weather has been really awful, like the Dr. Seuss book says:

The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day.

And so two of the biggest springtime events in the area, the Monterosso Lemon Festival and the Levanto Mangialonga have gotten pushed back from last week’s rainy weather to this weekend’s cold and rainy weather. But hope springs eternal, and so tomorrow, Sunday, we are hoping for decent weather for both events.

The Mangialonga is by reservation only, and since it is already sold out, there’s not much you can do about it unless you enjoy watching 1,000 slightly tipsy and overstuffed hikers walk past you downtown.

But the Lemon Festival is open to all and sundry, so it’s a good idea to check it out. Monterosso has been showing great resilience lately, what between the floods of 2011 and the landslide a couple of months ago that split the town in half (though blessedly without any fatalities or injuries. The vegetable gardens of the Monks up above the tunnel that connects the old with the new towns gave way under the heavy rains and blocked access, but it is now all taken care of and Monterosso is looking better than ever with spiffy streets and a new playground and fountain right at the end of Corso Roma.).

So come down, check it out, eat and drink, hope for sun, and help us all do a little ritual dance imploring Zephyr to bring us our summer. Please!